


Mise en place

by sunspot (unavoidedcrisis)



Category: Leverage
Genre: Cooking Lessons, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-13
Updated: 2020-02-13
Packaged: 2021-02-28 06:33:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 479
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22699459
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unavoidedcrisis/pseuds/sunspot
Summary: Cooking with Parker is more dangerous to his sanity than his physical health, but it's still goddamn dangerous.
Relationships: Parker & Eliot Spencer
Comments: 15
Kudos: 60
Collections: Chocolate Box - Round 5





	Mise en place

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Arithanas](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arithanas/gifts).



Eliot's impressed that Parker catches on so quickly with the knife. He's not surprised, because it's Parker and he's long since stopped wasting time and energy being surprised.

"And it's like this to gut a guy?" she asks, changing her grip on the knife. Eliot takes her hand shifts it back to a proper kitchen grip.

"Yes. God, Parker, stop. Just focus. An even, steady rhythm and focus and you'll have a perfect julienne, every time."

Parker grins at him and hammers out of a perfectly julienned cucumber in under thirty seconds. Again, he's impressed but not surprised.

The rice is as close to perfect as he's ever been able to get it, despite Parker's constant interruptions to his concentration.

"What are we making? Something french?"

_She's doing it to rile you up, man_ , he thinks to himself. "Mise en place," he says instead of yelling, or throttling her, or setting the kitchen on fire. "Getting everything ready before we cook."

"Right, 'french an french.'"

"Parker, you speak French."

"Do not."

"That Gravensteen castle job, in Belgium. I've _heard_ you speak French. Well, even."

"Oh yeah. I forgot you were there for that."

"Can you stop waving the knife? Julienne that carrot."

She does, beautifully, in only about twice the time it would have taken him. Parker really is learning quickly. If there was a way he could teach her the passion that goes along with all the technical skills she's picking up so fast, Parker would be nearly unstoppable in the kitchen.

Eliot slices the fish and has Parker set the table. Finally, they're ready for the moment Eliot's been half dreading and half looking forward to since he suggested they do this together.

"This part seems really hard," Parker says, frowning at the sheets of nori. "You always roll it so neatly."

"There's a trick to it," he reveals.

Parker looks at him expectantly. "If you tell me it's practice --"

"The trick is practice, Parker. Just try it, you'll do fine."

In the end, it's actually pretty well done. Eliot tries to tell her that, but she talks over him, going on and on to Hardison about how she made his birthday lunch and Eliot barely helped, just did the rice, like that's not the hardest part.

Later, when they've cleared the table and Eliot's done all the dishes himself, Parker meets him in the doorway.

"Thanks for today, El. It was fun."

And in that moment, all the wanting to pull his hair out and lock up the knives fades away, and she's like the little sister he never had. It's mise en place, all right; everything in it's place.

"Yeah, yeah," he says, because how would he tell her what he's thinking, feeling, without scaring her off?

"Can you teach me to do a soufflé next?"

Okay, maybe he'll need to pull _some_ hair out.


End file.
